Overhead door safety device



Feb. 14, 1961 R. S. REID ETAL OVERHEAD DOOR SAFETY DEVICE Filed Oct. 7, 1958 Robert 5. Reid Rudolph 5. Jordan IN VEN TORS MM 8m OVERHEAD DOOR SAFETY DEVICE Robert s. Reid, 51 Clark St., Brooklyn, N. I, and Rn dolph B. Jordan, 30 Miller Place, Valley Stream, N.Y.

Filed Oct. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 765,749 4 Claims. Cl. 292-235 This invention relates to a safety latch for an overhead garagedoor which is so constructed and arranged that it does not interfere with the lifting and out-of-the- I way'storage position of the door but comes into play and performs a safety service in a manner to prevent accidental dropping and closing of the door.

It often happens that momentum imparted to a slideaway garage door may result in the door overshooting its intended normal open or storage position resulting in an unexpected rebound and equally unexpected swift return of the door to its down or closed position. It is perhaps a fair observation to assume that closing of garage doors of the overhead type occurs countless times each day. The attending difiiculties are likely to be more severe "and consequential where eitheroneof the spring biased cables breaks. The provisionof safety 2,971,790 Patented Feb. 14, 1961 12 provided with bracketed rollers 14 operable in the channel portions of the vertical and horizontal portions 16 and 18 respectively of track means. Only one track is shown. As-a matter of fact, the track means and other parts are well-known and may be covered in somewhat greater detail in a patent to Wolf et a1. 2,703,247.if the reader desires to refer to the same. The numeral 20 designates a cable which in practice is attached to the lower partof the door and which is trained over a first pulley 21 then over a second pulley 22 which is shackled to a coil spring or equivalent balance 24. The end of the cable is, anchored in any suitable manner as at 26.

The spring in turn is anchored at bracket 30. i 1

The fixture 32 may be other than that shown. In any event, it comprises, in the form seen in Fig. 2, a hollow 28 on an anchoring box with an attaching flange 34 which is screwed or otherwise fastened to an adapter and spacing block 36 which is suitably suspended. from the top door frame member 8. The trippable lever or latch is denoted by the numeral 38 and is pivoted between its center and one end to swing by way of a rock shaft 40 journalled in bearings provided therefor in the walls of the fixture.

The front wall has a clearance slot 42 .for the end por-' tion 44 ofthe lever and to which end portion a manually actuatable pull cord 46 is connected. The long end portion of the lever denoted at 48 comprises a door check or stop and this part is sometimes referred to as a door traceable to dropping garage doors have resulted in the adoption""'ancl use of various types'and forms of safeguarding devices. I Inasmuch as these prior art constructions have not met with widespread adoption and use has been partly responsible for the instant endeavor which is to structurally and functionally improve upon safety devices in this category of invention.

In carrying out the present invention highly simple and practical contrivances have been adopted and put to use. More specifically, in carrying out the invention a hanger fixture is provided. This is in turn provided with a pivoted retaining latch, said latch being provided with a pull cord for tripping the latch to an out-of-theway position, whenever necessary or desired. In addition a bracket is provided and is mounted on a lower corner portion of the door. This bracket, in turn, is provided with a flange which constitutes a trip for the latch when the door is swung up and to an open position and as a stop or check in case the door should accidentally rebound or otherwise shift from an intended open to an undesired closed position.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing. In the drawing, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

Fig. 1 is a view showing fragmentary portions of a garage, frame, door and track means, and, what is more important, the safety door latching means.

Fig. 2 is a view in section and elevation of the latch and its hanger or fixture.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the aforementioned door bracket.

It will be evident that Fig. 1 provides suflicient illustration to show the invention and the old parts with which it is cooperable. The numeral 4 designates a garage or a similar enclosure having a door frame 6 with a horizontal frame member 8. The slide-away garage door is denoted by the numeral 10 and embodies the usual hingedly connected panels or door components descent stop latch. It operates through a clearance slot 50. Theupper, end of the slot 42 provides ,a check shoulder to limit the upward swing of the portion 44 in' the manner shown in full lines in Fig. '2. 'It is 'also' to -be 'notedin connection with Fig. 2 'thatit illustrates the tfippedpositio'n ofthe latch'.or-lever"in'.pliantqn lines In practice-it'will be understood that the latch is normally in the horizontal or set position s'eeniin Fig. 1. It follows that, and assuming that the door has been swung overhead to an out-of-the-way or storage position, 'it will be prevented from dropping accidentally down by way of the stop latch 48. To accomplish this a bracket 54 is provided. This bracket has a channel portion comprising a web 56 and spaced flanges 58 and 60. The flanges are provided with screw holes 62 whereby they may be screwed against inner and outer surfaces of the door adjacent the corner portion thereof. The bracket also includes an outstanding lip or flange 64 which is the important feature in that it constitutes a safety member. Actually, it has the function of a trip or release so that when the door travels up to the position shown in phantom lines in Fig. 1, an uplifting and release action of the latch 48 is accomplished. In other words, the latch moves aside and allows the trip flange 64 to pass. However, and as seen in Fig. 1 the trip is above the normally positioned latch and in case there should be an accidental forceful rebound of the door or breakage of one of the cables, the trip flange 64 engaging the stop latch 48 would prevent this.

With reference again to Fig. 1 it will be evident that the normal position of the bracket 54 is at the lower corner of the closed door 10. When one raises the door to slide it overhead to a storage or out-of-the-way position, it will be evident that as the door goes up the flange 64 which is in the path of movement and operation of the latch causes the latch 48 to be lifted up and moved to an out-of-the-way position temporarily of course. It will be further noticed in connection with Fig. 2 that the safety latch proper, that is the portion 48, is balanced so that its normal position is the full line position. Consequently, as the trip flange 64 passes by the latch is kicked up and when the flange has passed by the latch swings down to its retainer position, that is the positiog where it becomes a check or stop just in case the door should tend to shift toward a position of danger.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A safety device for use in conjunction with an upper I frame member of a garage door frame and wherein the garage door is'a slidably mounted overhead type mounted on track means, said device embodying a fixture having forward and rearwardslots aligned with each other, a lever having a median portion pivotally mounted on said disposed rock shaft mounted in bearings provided therefor on the interior of the box-like member, said lever being linearly straight and the median portion thereof being fixedly joined to said rock shaft.

3. The structure defined in claim 2 and wherein said bracket is a single structuralentity having a channel portion with flanges for attachment to the aforementioned door and also having said lip-like flange'disposed in a plane at right angles to said first named flanges.

4. A safety device comprising a two-part attachment, one part adapted to be fixedly mounted on one of the frame members of a stationary garage door frame, the other part being adapted to be attached to and carried by the vertically liftable and lowerable portion of a slideaway overhead type garage door cooperable with said frame, said first part comprising a fixture having attachiing flanges, a rock shaft journaled for angular rotation fixture, said lever having a forward end projecting through and beyond the forward slot and provided with a manna ally actuatable depending pull cord which when the forward end is pulled down the rearward end rocks upwardly to an inclined position, said rearward end projecting through and beyond the rearward slot and the projecting portion thereof constituting a door check, said door check being adapted to assume a position in close proximity to an outer side of the liftable and lowerable portion of the garage door, and a companion bracket adapted to be mounted on a marginal portion of the liftable and lowerable portion of the door, said bracket having a rigid lip-like flange providing a movable door stop, said door stop being in the path of operation of the door check and capable of passing the door check when the liftable portion of the garage door is slid up to open position, but being engageable with the door check when the door is lowered unless, of course, the depending pull cord is actuated to trip the door check to an out-of-theway position relative to the door stop.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 and wherein said fixture comprises a hollow box-like member having mounting and attaching flanges, said slots being formed in'the front and rear walls and there being an interiorly in bearings provided therefor in said fixture, said fixture having aligned forward and rearward slots, a lever having a median portion joined to said shaft for operation therewith, a forward end portion of the lever projecting through the forward slot and being provided at a free end thereof with a depending manually actuatable pull cord, the rearward end portion of said lever projecting through the rearward slot and beyond said slot and pro: viding an outstanding trippable door check, said other part comprising a door bracket having attaching flange means for connection with a predetermined portion of the door and having an outstanding forwardly projecting lip-like flange, said liplike fiange constituting a tripping member when it moves in an upward direction in the path of operation of the door check, and constituting a safety door stop and retaining member when it moves downwardly in line with said door check.

1,674,649 2,703,247 Wolf et al Mar. 1, 1955 2,807,460 Guirnont Sept. 24, 1957 

